ASSESSING THE READINESS OF COUNTRIES IN COMBATING COVID-19 PANDEMIC WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

The pandemic caused by a coronavirus (Covid-19) has been an alarming warning to sustainable development. In the fight against the global pandemic, the performance approaches facing Covid-19 by nations play a crucial role while waiting for vaccines or treatments from the world health organization. This paper used data envelopment analysis with an undesirable output model (DEA-UOM) to measure the efficiency performance against Covid-19 of the selected 50 countries spreading from America, Europe, Asia, to Africa during 2020. In the proposed model, the input variables consist of total tests, hospital beds, population, life expectancy, aged-70-older, and the output variables are total cases, total deaths, and total recovered. The obtained result is shown in two main parts, the efficacy and rank of countries and group classification. The results of this research were based on the real data of the variables, which are statistics in nature. The managerial implication of the model’s results not only conveys the overall view in fighting the current pandemic but also offers a guideline for decision-makers in combating and enhancing the healthcare system. Hence, this paper can be a valuable reference to global health agencies to push back this pandemic and improve preventive actions in the fight against the global pandemic for sustainable and resilient development.